Friends
by Switzerland33
Summary: The one where everyone grows up and is happy with their lives except they're not.


"We have to do that again!"

Jade smiled, offering a friendly wave, "You bet." She climbed the steps to her front door, pushing it open gently. She looked around her small apartment, her small smile growing in size.

It had been a fun night with her co-stars, a night of relaxation and no stress. No pressure. No worries of the show the next night, of missing a note, or a dance step, of forgetting a line. Nope, just worries about who was going to pay for the next round.

Stepping out of her heels, she stripped to her shirt and panties, leaning against the counter as she boiled water for her hot chocolate.

"Hot enough," she poured the water in the cup and mixed in the cocoa. Walking to her living room, she sat on the couch, looking outside, wondering how her life could be so good. With the shit she grew up in, she expected to be in a metal asylum by now.

She thought of Hollywood Arts, of everyone. Some of them, she knew what happened to them, some of them seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Beck, she knew, was an actor. Tori and Andre were singers. Cat and Robbie? Never heard from them after graduation.

And they all used to be so close, despite Jade's attitude. That summer was the last time she heard from them. Everyone's probably so caught up in their own lives. She smiled, again, thinking of her goodbye from Beck. It wasn't really a goodbye, but more of a to be continued. But it's been over five years, who still remembers high school sweethearts after so much time has gone by?

"I do," she murmured, knowing Beck was the real reason why she's still single and hasn't given any guy in New York a chance. But he's all the way in California, and long distance relationships never work out.

Shaking her head, she sipped from her cup, wondering about her own life. After graduation, she went to a performing arts college in New York, where she got noticed by a Broadway producer. She was unsure at first, wanting more to be of an actress/singer. But, now she knew she couldn't have made a better decision. The rush, the thrill, the excitement, the feedback from a live audience, getting to sing beautiful songs and add your own different twist on them each night. The show has been in production for three years, and doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon.

"Love Thy Neighbor," she whispered, standing slowly to go to her room. Take advantage of this rare day off tomorrow. She closed her door and climbed into her bed, spreading out her limbs in the emptiness. Curling into a ball, she sighed and drifted off to sleep, reminiscing on friends lost, love forgotten, and the ever present feeling of loneliness.

X.X.

"Robbie, what a night my man," Robbie grinned at his friend, Ralph.

"Yeah man, and we're just getting started! Shit, I forgot my hat," Robbie jogged to his flat, fumbling with the keys as he entered.

He hurried to his room, looking on the dresser and in the closet, "Where did I put that damn thing?" Now it's going to his fault if they're late to the biggest concert to ever hit this city.

Robbie hadn't done much after graduation. Being a ventriloquist doesn't get you far, most often. So he made a group of friends that understood him, dumped Rex, and began his life anew as music fest junkie. He lived as a hippie basically, but he loved it.

In the midst of looking under the bed, his hand ran across a piece of paper.

"What is this?" He took it out, surprised to see lyrics to a song he had written years ago at Hollywood Arts. Broken Glass. He read of the lyrics, humming as he did, thinking of that night when they were in Tori's house. His old friends, people he hasn't heard from since that summer when everyone disappeared. Well except Cat, he saw her around town sometimes, but she was usually with Sam, with her new life.

He stared at the paper, remembering old times, Beck and Jade arguing, Jade and Tori arguing, Andre singing, Cat being Cat. And even Sinjin. He folded the paper up neatly and placed it on his tableside desk, saving it for tomorrow when he could delve into the memories of high school when everything and he thought he was going to be a star and he didn't feel this pit inside of him like something was missing.

He looked out of the corner of his eye, "There's my hat!"

He ran out of his flat, locking the door behind him, "Alright Ralph, let's go get the boys!"

X.X.

Cat laughed as the little boy playing the video game, "That's not how you beat him dummy!"

Sam was napping in the kitchen, tired from cooking with a little girl that had just left. The boy's mom was late from getting off work. He took some popcorn from the ball and started over.

"I died on purpose!"

"But, why?" Cat was genuinely confused.

"Shut up, Cat!" Sam called from the kitchen, "Mama can't sleep with all this racket!"

Cat laughed, "She called herself Mama!" But then she stopped, because a memory resurfaced. Someone else used to say shut up Cat, to her too. Jade! She said that to Cat a whole lot.

She recalled nights at her house, slumber parties with Tori, songs with Andre, stories with Robbie, and jokes with Beck. After Hollywood Arts, everyone left and she was still her. She used to see Robbie sometimes, but he made new friends and forgot all about her.

She felt like a dropped bag of potatoes. The boy offered her the controller and momentarily distracted her, "It's my turn now? Yay!"

"Yeah, I'm tired of playing," he went and got on the computer.

Cat started playing, "Yay! I love this game!" But then memories of certain high school friends returned and she sighed again, wishing she could see them all again, and pretend she was eighteen again with the chance of being a pop star instead of babysitting children for five years in a row with no chance of doing anything else in her future.

"Cat? What's wrong?"

She jumped, "Sam! You scared?"

"Yeah, well pass me the controller! I'll show you how to really kill zombies!"

Cat laughed, distracted again, forgetting fond memories of distant friends of years past.

X.X.

"That's wrap for tonight," Tori stopped singing, frowning at her manager.

"Did I do something wrong?"

He laughed, "No, Tori. It's just 3 AM is all, and we're tired as hell. We'll meet back here in the morning."

She nodded, taking her headphones off of her head and stepping out of the booth. Waving goodbye to the produces as they finished up on the record, she collapsed on her bed in the room a few doors down. The studio was in her basement.

They were doing a remix of a song she had sung in high school, Tell Me That You Love Me. Making it more of a pop song. She smiled as she thought back on that night in the restaurant. Wearing Jade's dress, singing with Andre, everyone staring at her. The first night she felt like a star.

She missed them, even Jade. The arguments, the laughter, the trouble they all would get into. More often than not, she would find herself thinking of them, and how life would have been if they had all decided to go to a performing arts college together, to keep the friendship they had together instead of everyone going their separate ways.

She knew Jade, Beck, and Andre were doing well. Beck was in LA, Jade in New York, and Andre in Atlanta. Cat and Robbie stayed in town, she knew, but she never did good on her promise to keep in touch with them like she said she would.

Turning on her back and staring at the ceiling, she thought of her sister, still living with their parents, trying to find that one role that will make her star. She hadn't talked to Trina in a while either, maybe she should call her tomorrow.

She wished it was that easy to talk to her friends. She would love to call Cat and Robbie over to spend the night, or hear Jade say how horrible she sounded in her song so she could fix it, or to hear Beck and Andre's encourage words.

Willing herself to sleep, she turned her mind from those thoughts and hummed the melody to Tell Me That You Love me until she fell asleep.

X.X.

"It's going to be a hit man," Brockie said.

Andre laughed, messing with the tuning, "I hope so man. I need one big song man, just one. Everyone will know my name then."

He sighed as he worked on the base, wanting the lead single from his first album to be perfect. His whole life he had dreamed of making music, of singing his heart out to people so they could see him. Really see him.

"This is that song. I know it," Brockie went and sat on the couch, kicking his feet up on the table. "You sound amazing."

Andre laughed the compliment off, thinking of fans, cheering crowds, sold out shows, and platinum records. That's all he had wanted his whole life, since he was a little boy performing at talent shows to when he was a teenager getting the call that he had been accepted into Hollywood Arts, the place that started it all.

After graduation he had been signed to a record company down in Atlanta. A month later, he was done in California and the life he had led there. He had meant to keep up with everyone, truly he had. But life got so hectic and so busy, the shows, the women, the parties…he hadn't gotten around to it. Next thing he knew, five years had gone by and he still hadn't picked up the phone to call anyone, not even Tori.

Tweaking a horn sound, he thought of long days in the sun with them, when it was quiet and peaceful and they could just sit in each other's company in bliss and be happy. A group of friends who knew each other better than their own parents, who knew each other better than they knew themselves.

And now he couldn't tell you where they stayed or even if they were married or not.

"I think I know what my next song to be about."

X.X.

"Come on Beck," this woman moaned in his ear.

"Give me a minute," he whispered, getting out of the bed. Leaving the beautiful woman in the bed, he walked into the bathroom, splashing water on his face.

So this is what he craved so bad. Yes, he was a successful actor, his last movie had made over 300 million, but the life…it was…it just was. He slept with beautiful woman at night, and made appearances during the day when he wasn't working.

When had his life become so empty? What happened to the travelling he wanted to do, the touring, the discoveries and adventures? What happened to everything he had wanted to do outside of acting? When had his personal life become so shit?

He pissed in the toilet, flushing and going back to stare in the mirror. He knew when, but he didn't want to think about it. When he had left town to act in an indie movie, he thought he would still have his friends. But when he came back, Jade wanted to break up, and Andre was gone. He and Tori had a little fling, but then she left for San Francisco or someplace like that. Cat and Robbie were the only two who stayed, but he didn't promise to keep in touch and he didn't.

He washed his hands, drying them and rubbing them through his hair, preparing himself for round two with the beautiful brunette in his bed. She reminded him of two beautiful brunettes in his life, two women who left his heart broken and his head confused.

Maybe that's why he was nothing but the famed Beck Oliver with nothing remotely relevant about his personal life. It was too painful to think that he hasn't had one since five years ago. That after that summer, his life lost all meaning except for the little he had in his work.

He walked back to the room, lying in bed and running his lips across the woman's neck, "Ready?"


End file.
